1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to a vehicular navigation system for locating a registered point, such as a destination or waypoint, by inputting the name of the registered point.
2. Description of Related Art
In the navigation system of the prior art, input can be made when a point such as a destination or waypoint is to be located. Registered point data, as stored in memory, contain not only the coordinates of the points but also the names of shops or other facilities. Therefore, if the user knows the name of a desired point, he can display the desired point on the map by inputting its name. He can then set the desired point as the destination or waypoint to receive the route guidance. Moreover, the driver can locate the desired point merely by inputting a portion of the name if he does not know the complete name. In addition, the registered points corresponding to the names are displayed in a list so that they may be selected by the user.
The memory medium in the aforementioned system of the prior art has a large memory capacity such that it can store a great number of names of shops or facilities and their coordinates, as described above. However, if national information is used, a massive amount of information is extracted and displayed in the list, unless the user inputs the formal names as correctly as possible. For example, if shop names, such as those often used for coffee shops of beauty parlors, are input as a desired location, several hundreds of names which have wholly or partially identical names are extracted. Conceivably, the list could contain the addresses (in the cities, towns and villages) corresponding to the names when listed. However, even if the addresses are known to some extent, it is not easy to locate the desired point using its address from a list containing several hundred names.